That Yankee Stadium bandbox with all of the baseball and football lines, and horrible pitch, needs to be re-examined. That was a bad look last night. Both teams were losing their footing all throughout the match. And NYCFC was on that bully-ball ish, that slowed the game down, but ultimately didn't work. We wore them down and at the end of the match, NYCFC were tired.
We're gonna miss Almiron after this season. He brings a different energy to the pitch and the side plays off of it. Villaba was energetic, but out of control. 30 minutes on and they had to pull him, as he ran out of energy. Barco came in and played the Almiron role successfully. Advancing the ball and taking on defenders, but also tracking back and defending.
My MVP of the match was Josef Martinez. He didn't score a goal, but his runs, holdup play and passing, and most importantly, his defending provided us a defensive advantage that NYCFB was not ready for. He was everywhere.
Hoping that Tata opens it up at the Benz on Sunday. The city is ready for this team to shine brightly.